Transmenu powered by JoomlArt.com - Mambo Joomla Professional Templates Club

LAC also deploys “urgent arrest teams” on the ground during public gatherings, such as the Bersih or anti-ISA rallies.

“Five of us, including myself were arrested two years ago when assisting in urgent arrest cases at the Brickfields Police Station  in the aftermath of Wong Chin Huat’s Black Thursday candlelight vigil,” said Ravinder.

The Kuala Lumpur Legal Aid Centre, one of 15 run nationwide by the Malaysian Bar Council, handled over 15,000 cases last year, the majority coming from the lower class, middle class and working class.

Ravinder explained that decisions as to who were eligible depended on an assessment of their liabilities and income. 

“When you look at their income and compare it to how many dependants they have, this can be deduced,” he said.

The means test to qualify for LAC help is that a person must have a post-expenses monthly income of RM 650 or RM 900 in the case of a married couple.

Additionally, they must not own a house worth more than RM 45,000, a car worth more than RM 20,000, a motorcycle worth more than RM 4,500, or savings more than RM 5,000.

Successful applicants will have to pay a RM20 fee to open a file and pay the expenses incurred by the lawyer such as travel and photocopy fees.

“After the planned National Legal Aid Foundation comes into force, we might revise the means test to take into account current inflation rates.

“Divorce, access, custody and maintenance cases form the bulk of cases taken up by us, especially divorce cases. Family and criminal cases form the highest number of cases,” Ravinder said, adding the centre also takes on labour and syariah cases. 

He said that even criminal cases with a clearcut conviction would be taken up by the centre if the applicant met the criteria in the means test.

While the centre cannot take on those charged with capital offences, it is not the end of the line for those accused of such offences.

“Basically, when you get charged with any offence that carries the death penalty such as murder or drug trafficking, the High Court has an assigned counsel scheme. Under the scheme, the court will source a lawyer for you.“Four or five years ago, the lawyers who handled these cases were experienced in capital punishment matters. Now, the Bar Council provides names to the judiciary a list of names of lawyers who have volunteered for this assigned counsel scheme,” said Ravinder.

The centre would then call on the services of 500-600 lawyers in Kuala Lumpur. 

“In the event of an emergency, we start calling the list of volunteers,” Ravinder said. 

He said the 15 centres nationwide were funded with a RM100 contribution from every lawyer in Malaysia, which amounts to a national pool of RM1.3 million.

The funds are still insufficient and limits the kind of work the centres could undertake. 

The Budget had recently allocated RM15 million to the National Legal Aid Foundation but Ravinder said that amount would not be mixed with the 1.3 million currently funding the centres.

He said the sum would still be insufficient to represent all criminal cases nationwide. 

“Representation goes from arrest, remand to charge, bail and trial as well as appeal,” said Ravinder, adding that at the centre, lawyers who took up cases would see the case through to appeals.